How to Get Rid of Roaches

Roaches can make their way into even the cleanest of homes in shared dwellings like apartment buildings where you can’t always know your neighbors’ housekeeping habits. The solution for how to get rid of roaches is a four-step process. If you’ve discovered a cockroach infestation, you may feel like you’re battling a plague, but follow the pest removal advice recommended by the New York State Department of Health. In order to eliminate roaches, you have to eliminate their food, water, and hiding places, and then bar any openings to keep them out.

The first step in roach control is to clean the home thoroughly and remove potential food sources. Prevent further infestation by eliminating all food sources for roaches. Don’t leave unwashed dishes in the sink. Don’t leave any open and exposed food in the kitchen, either in the counter or in the cabinets. Consider using plastic and glass containers to foods like flour, sugar, crackers, and cereal; anything that is not kept in the refrigerator. Rinse out all of your jars and cans meant for recycling. Take your trash out regularly. Wash your countertop, table top, and sink, including the drain, every day. Repair water leaks like under the sink. Make sure you have no standing water anywhere. The key for how to get rid of roaches is to keep everything clean and dry.

The next step in cockroach management is to take away their hiding places. Clean out any shelf paper; roaches can hide under it. Loose wallpaper should be removed and repaired, and also cracked plaster. Throw out clutter, especially in kitchen drawers and cabinets, where roaches can hide. Finally, prevent roaches in the house by blocking all entryways into your home. Use caulk to seal any cracks in the walls, ceiling, baseboards, door and window casings, and the splash board under your sink.

If you live in an apartment, report the problem to your landlord or super right away. In the meantime, before an exterminator comes out to provide professional pest control services to the building, you can buy roach pest control products like bait and glue traps . You don’t have to touch any poison inside these roach killer products. Place them up on counter tops and inside cabinets, where kids and pets can’t reach them and tear them open and get to the poison themselves. Roaches enter the little bait containers, ingest the poison, and then scurry back to the roach nest, where the cockroach pesticide kills more roaches. With traps, roaches crawl into the little box but get stuck on the adhesive. When full, you just throw it out. The process for how to get rid of roaches, especially in apartment buildings, takes a group effort, but keeping your apartment clean and dry, removing food sources, and baits and traps will be a big help.